Krauthammer: The Hamas 'Peace' Gambit

Middle East | Fri, May 8, 2009 at 8:37:44 am PDT

Charles Krauthammer knows what’s behind Hamas’ latest phony offer of a temporary truce: The Hamas ‘Peace’ Gambit.

WASHINGTON — The Times conducted a five-hour interview with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal at his Damascus headquarters. Mirabile dictu, they’re offering a peace plan with a two-state solution. Except. The offer is not a peace but a truce that expires after 10 years. Meaning that after Israel has fatally weakened itself by settling millions of hostile Arab refugees in its midst, and after a decade of Hamas arming itself within a Palestinian state that narrows Israel to eight miles wide — Hamas restarts the war against a country it remains pledged to eradicate.

There is a phrase for such a peace: the peace of the grave.

Westerners may be stupid, but Hamas is not. It sees the new American administration making overtures to Iran and Syria. It sees Europe, led by Britain, beginning to accept Hezbollah. It sees itself as next in line. And it knows what to do. Yasser Arafat wrote the playbook.

The Arabic word for this kind of phony “truce” is hudna, and Westerners keep falling for it over and over.

Also see:
Soccer Dad: Monster meshal